Runaway Stars
by Inu-Chan the music friend
Summary: Danger Days Killjoy Story! Yeah man. Death Wish is a young killjoy imprisoned by BLI but when she is rescued by Show Pony she is thrown into a life of running and new friends while desperatly searching for closure on her dead friends and the other teenage killjoy she loved but had to let run away. Really not as bad as I make it sound. Trust me.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- Killjoy stories! YEAH BABY! So Yeah. If you're reading this then please review it cause then I will be happy . Hope you like it and again- don't tell me I can't spell, I already know that silly :P.**

**Disclaimer- As much as I would love to I do not own the killjoy universe or any members of my chemical romance or any songs I might quote from. **

**Chapter 1- The Get-away Mile**

Oh yes and I was sure that slowly but surely the world was closing in on us. Me.

There was no longer an us. Just like in old movies there's always us and them. No. Its now me and them. Me. Just lil ol Death Wish against them. Who is them? Is them the ones who make the pills, the ones who pumped the drugs into my veins or the ones who killed and deformed everything I ever cared for. The ones who fed my mother the pills to make her a brainless zombie with the promise 'We're doing it for the best' the same ones who killed my father for his views on the company and rebellious music. Or is them the ones who killed my only friends and only role models Broken Record and Candy Bullets and good as ghosted Static Sunrise my only ever love in a futile attempt to lure the man with the red hair, the man who gave me my name.

****Flashback****

"Don't wanna be an American Idiot. One nation controlled by the media. Information age of the stereo. Its going out to Idiot America!" I sang in the street, clinging to the memory of my dad as a hopeless teenager with nowhere she felt she could go. It was a day after my dad was officially recruited to be memory wiped and my rage had finally overcame my common sense. So I was singing the worst song I could sing in the centre of the tunnel into the oncoming traffic. A hand gripped my mouth and pulled me into an alcove, stifling my attempted scream.

"What are you doing kid! Have you got a fucking Death Wish! No one sings anymore let alone that kind of shit!" said the redheaded man. He looked nice. Well not nice but you know, trustworthy. Like Max and Ollie. Not by far not guilty but doing it for the right reasons. His friends looked down on me with steely faces.

"Go back to your pills battery city girl" said the man again "This is dangerous shit your involving yourself in." but no. I wanted this. Nothing worth having was at the bottom of the pill packs. I still ran though.

****Flashback Ends****

Death wish. Death wish. Death wish. Death wish. Shortened to Wish by the guys, formerly known as student number 15-07-36-6043. The girl with the grey eyes and the white hair. I was dragged into killjoys and not pill popping when my dad died 3 years ago and it was like a time bomb just waiting to blow my life apart. I stopped taking the pills and started hanging on street corners singing until late at night. I met Max- Static Sunrise to most people- who introduced me to Broken Record and his love Candy Bullets. The day I met the redheaded man was the day I committed to it. The point of no return, the last stop of a runaway train. Clique metaphors I know but it's how it felt. I was tattooed with a wishing star on my hip and the spider of rebellion, the California widow, on my scalp behind my ear. That was how I got into this mess. Sat in a cell covered in bruises and scars all because the test results of a physical health checkups. They discovered my tattoos. No one had tattoos anymore so they realized I had joined the killjoys. They discovered the safe house of Record and Candy. They didn't even have time to put on their masks before they were ghosted. Static ran away to the desert when he found out about their fates and begged me to run with him. I couldn't. By the time he had started running they were coming for me and if I ran with him we would both die. Now it's only gonna be me.

"Oi freak show! Food!" said the drac behind the door, sliding a tray under a slit in the clinically white door. It had a plateful of food that I knew I couldn't eat and it was torture. If I eat it I'm just where they want me, drugged up and ready to talk. I groaned loudly and hit the wall behind me hard with my left fist. Then my right. Then left again.

I heard something. Someone on the other side of the wall was hitting it too. I waited for them to stop and then, in a futile attempt of communication I beat out a rhythm on the wall with a fist. Whoever was on the other side hit back the same rhythm so I decided to make this interesting. I hit the rhythm of the words 'Look alive sunshine'. They hit back but with an added part. 'The future is bulletproof'.

"You are aware my girl that you can't stay silent forever." said the Asian woman across the table. I had been here for a whole hour and not a word had escaped from my lips. Not a word. Now that is self control for you.

"We don't want to kill you oh no. Why would we do that? You're so much more useful alive. I mean we will try to rehabilitate you but we would rather you just came quietly" the woman said as she got up and dragged her finger across the table. I looked at her with a glare that could melt glass.

"Unlike your father."

My mouth fell open. They don't know who I am do they? She grinned a sadistic grin

"You thought we didn't know? Oh this is unusual. You're even more naive than we though. We know everything."

She pushed a button on a screen and numbers flashed past.

"Student 6043. Battery city area 15. House 36. Risk level 07. That makes you a liability you know." she grinned as her screen zoomed into a picture of my house.

"However you aren't here for us to tell you what we know, we're here so you can't tell us what we don't know. Who is this?" She held up a picture of Candy Bullets. I fake shrugged and slumped back against the desk. She pushed another 2 pictures in front of me.

"Lets try again. Who are these?"

It was Static Sunrise and Broken Record but I didn't let on. I just pushed the photos away. She grinned sadistically.

"Oh I see. I thought you would be easier to break. Your father sang like a bird the moment I pointed the gun at his head." She said and I heard the cocking of a revolver "Lets see if it works on you."

I growled. "My father was a great man and you killed him. For that I will never talk."

She sighed and pulled the end of the gun to reveal a menacingly long pointed needle.

"No I suppose you won't. I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way."

She raised the needle and stabbed me hard in the neck. I collapsed off the chair onto the floor. The last things I heard was the woman sighing.

"Pity really. A clever girl like yourself would have been a great SCARECROW agent."

Then I blacked out in a whirl of rage.

"Hey Kid. Look alive!" came a voice from behind me. I looked around. I was back in the cell and there was no one there.

"Oi Sunshine! Over here!" came the voice again. I stood up and growled but I saw the window. It was just above my eye level and covered in bars but through it I could see a helmet clad head. I went over to it and put a hand through.

"Good girl. I'm gonna help you but first you've gotta help yourself. What happened?" the voice asked. I think it was a man. He sounded trustworthy and weather-beaten like the redheaded man.

"They showed me picture of my friends and asked me who they were. I didn't say so the Chinese lady stuck a needle in my neck and I woke up here again."

"Aww crap." he sighed for now I was pretty sure it was a he. "Tell me. Would you destroy something perfect to make it beautiful?"

"Always. Perfection is never beautiful" I said with utmost seriousness because that is what I believe. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"They didn't get you. I was worried for a second there. Now I'm gonna hand you a crowbar and you've gotta prize the bars off the window. When you're done you'll have maybe 30 seconds to get out and whatever you do, keep running."

**30 seconds after the bars were taken off**

I slithered out the tiny window onto hot sand. Alarms started blaring and a siren rang in my ears. I ran. I didn't know where but I ran. Bullets whooshed past my head but I just kept running. Sand kicked up under my feet and the sun shone hot on my back but still I ran.

I didn't stop until my legs collapsed underneath me with exhaustion and then I looked back. It was midday and I must have run maybe 2 miles from the little white building at the edge of the safe zone. I couldn't see anything except the building in the distance and an endless rolling desert. I collapsed in the sand and breathed heavy and fast. Suddenly I heard the roar of an engine and saw a van coming towards me. I tried to run but it swerved in front of me to reveal that painted on the side was the spider. The spider of rebellion, the California widow.

"Look alive sunshine. Hop in." said the voice of the man from the front seat "Good job with the crowbar back their by the way."

I jumped into the open door into the front. As soon as I had slammed the door he hit the gas and I was flung back in my seat.

"Wooooh! Kill em all!" he shouted at the top of his voice and that was when I got a first look at my rescuer. He was wearing sky blue leggings with white polka dots on and at the bottom of his legs were a pair of oversized roller-skates. Over a shirt he wore a white vest top with the word 'NOISE' emblazoned on in black lettering.

"Sorry about that. Names Show Pony. Don't worry about why you're all here I'll explain to you all later. First we gotta get outta the safe zone."

I realized he had said 'you're all' so I turned to see three other people sitting in the back of the van. There were two boys wearing the same BL/ind prison uniforms as I was and a woman in her early 20s. She wore skinny red jeans, a deep crimson coloured jacket and a white tank top with neon pink paint splatters over it. She shrugged of the jacket and stretched out.

"Why do you reckon they only kept kids in that facility Pony?" she asked as she leant forward onto her knees.

"Who knows? Who Cares! I'm telling you Cherri, every new killjoy is one more bullet in our ray-guns. I'm sure no one cares how old they all are." Pony remarked "You might wanna get some rest. We've got a long way to go to Zone 6 everybody."

I took this as an invite to sleep.

"Hey. Look alive Sunshine, we're here. Welcome to zone 6." I heard Cherri's voice and I opened my eyes. The sun hadn't moved much in the sky so I was guessing it took about an hour. I stood up and let Cherri help me out the van.

"So kids. There will be a million questions you wanna ask me but right now I couldn't give a fuck. I need you to go in that back room and find some clothes that fit you then all will be revealed. Okay Motorbabys?" Show Pony told the three of us. We nodded, in shock and possibly fear and walked into the aforementioned back room.

"Whoa." the two boys echoed my sentiments as we entered the cluttered room. It had so much cool stuff in it was almost too much to take in. I admired the room, there was so much to see and so much I could find out, but for now I looked for clothes.

I left the room just after the boys and discovered a bathroom I could change in.

"Hey. Kid?" Cherri's voice came apprehensively into the room "I was wondering, do you want me to dye your hair for you?"

"Err Yeah! Can you do it blue?" I smiled at her as she walked into the room.

"Any colour you want kiddo. What's your name?" She grinned recovering a bottle of dye from the bathroom cupboard.

"Death Wish. But you can call me Wish. Everyone else did." I said sitting on the floor as she combed my hair.

"Agent Cherri Cola. But Cherri also works."

"Cherri with an I?" I asked as it was one of the several things I had observed about her.

"Yeah. How did you know that?" she asked as I felt a cold liquid being combed into my hair.

"Lucky guess." I lied.

"Why do I not believe you?" she giggled

"Cause I'm a shit lier. How blue is this gonna be?" I asked. She gave me a packet.

"This blue."

"Awesome!"

An hour later I had showered the dye out of my hair and was admiring myself in my new clothes in the mirror.

"Oi Wish! C'mon we got food for you!" a male voice shouted from outside the bathroom. I sighed and took one last look at myself in the bathroom mirror.

Short jet black cargo shorts with turn ups at the bottom revealed my long athletic legs which I had always liked. Blue converses the same shade as my newly dyed hair on my feet and laced exactly how I like them with the bows tied to the left. A blue 1/4 sleeved shirt with black almost-checkers was tucked into my shorts loosely and unbuttoned on the top 4 buttons to show off the black strappy top underneath. It had 'SCREAM' written on in bright blue paint and showed off a lot of my flesh which, although it sounds slutty, I liked. My hair was dyed bright bright sapphire blue and cut into a choppy layered bob at my shoulders by Cherri. Two strands at the front were shorter than the rest and they framed my face perfectly.

"Coming!"

As I walked out into the diner, the older of the two boys wolf whistled.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a Crashqueen everybody!" he chuckled and I hit his head.

"That's mean. And rich coming from the boy in skinny jeans." I told him as I sat down. He was wearing really tight dark blue skinny jeans and neon green Doc Margins. His shirt was dark green with a picture of bright red flames emblazoned on the left corner and his blond hair was swished out of his brown eyes. This was all finished off with a black leather jacket and aviators.

The second boy sat beside me flexing his fingers. He had on a pair of black fingerless gloves and a plain black top, both with red paint on which, at a glance looked like blood. His blue jeans were also skinny but not as much as the other guys and had ripped knees. Red converses and a shiny black ring in his lip completed the picture.

"Okay Kids, here's the deal. The Killjoy community if you can call it that needs as many new soldiers as it can get. So recently most killjoy packs have been recruiting and now we've gotten in on the act and decided to break out the prison you guys were in. Lucky you. And questions?" Show Pony explained.

"Yeah. So basically we're only here cause you guys are on a recruitment drive?" the blond guy raised his hand to ask.

"Nailed it. But I think you lot'll get on fine." Show pony said

"Are you and Cherri the only Killjoys here?" The brown haired lip ring boy next to me asked. Pony shook his head.

"This is the radio station for 109 in the sky. Me, Cherri and Doctor D all live here with a little girl who you've yet to meet called Gracie. We're also kind of a diner so we get all sorts passing through. Plus there are four Killjoys who roam Zone 6 who like to call this place home but more on them later. Crashqueen!" he said way to fast pointing at me.

"Do you know of a kid called Static Sunrise?" I asked biting my lip "And also, the Fuck is a Crashqueen?"

Show pony laughed at my naivety.

"A Crashqueen is a pretty girl. And no I can't say I do. But that doesn't mean he's not out there cause no one tells me anything. We just get told if a Killjoy has been picked up, not their names. Why was he your friend?"

"You could say that."

"Ohh. Sorry. Anyway what are all your names?"

"Death Wish." I said

"Silent Thunder." the blond boy across the table introduced himself

"Shadowed Sky." the dark haired boy fidgeted with his lip ring.

"Cool. Welcome to the Zones." Show Pony remarked and slid 3 boxes across the table "These are your guns. Keep them close and make sure to aim straight. Paints in the box. Make em yours." he told us. We opened the boxes like children with Christmas presents and each pulled out a plain white ray gun. At the bottom of each box was a set of paints and a brush so I set about making my gun, well mine.

"Thunders is the coolest though." said Shadow as he examined our guns in his hands. I laughed and took mine back as I admired Thunders ray gun. It was black with a long yellow thunderbolt down the barrel and flames on the trigger. Sky's was red with three claw marks down the left side in gold and mine was royal blue like my hair with a silver shooting star like on my tattoo down the barrel.

"C'mon kids. Bedtime." Show pony said and we all looked at him as if to say 'how old do you think we are?'.

"Don't look at me like that. We've got a lot to do tomorrow and you need rest. Cherri labelled your rooms. Sky and thunder share the one at the end of the hall and Wish will be bunking with Grace when she gets back."

We sighed and hauled ourselves from the chairs, ray guns in hand and went into the rooms show pony had showed us. Mine was a mess. But only one half. Full of band posters and stuff which I could only assumed belonged to 'Grace' who I was looking forward to meeting. But the other half was pristine and boring. Meh. I could deal with that later. I kicked off my shoes and the button up into a pile on the floor. Then, still holding my gun, I crashed to the bed and fell asleep.

Maybe there is an us after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- Soooo. I got bored and seeing as I already wrote this chapter wanted to put it up now. This is for Meg but I won't embarrass her over the internet too much. It cuts off not where I wanted it too but otherwise it would have been way longer. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REVEIWING! Arrrg I was so happy when I got them . So here is chapter two of Runaway Stars. The story title comes from a line in the song bulletproof heart and I will tell you the chapter titles as we go.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own MCR or Danger days or The Fabulous Killjoys or anything else you recognise.**

**I own Death Wish though. She and her blue hair are a figment of my overactive imagination. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2- This aint about all the friends you make**

Sun shone through the fabric covered window onto my face. I had been awake for a while but I was just lying there, observing the posters that covered graces walls. I had never met the girl but I've always been observant and I think I've figured out the kind of person she is. I had figured she's younger than me, maybe 10 or 11 and has curly hair. She likes the band Mad Gear and the Missile Kid and doesn't have any parents here. But she travels a lot cause I don't reckon she's here very often.

I stood up and stretched out before slipping on my shoes. I needed to shower but I know that in a desert that's not gonna happen. So I walked out into the corridor, still clutching my ray gun.

I heard a voice that I didn't recognise and froze, my hands moved straight to the ray gun. Two men walked around the corner and I held it up at them. They froze and stared. One had bright scarlet hair and a blue jacket with bluish jeans. The other was in a black and yellow jacket with dark dyed hair that smelt of chemicals.

"Whoa dude! You don't wanna do that!" said the black head. I put the gun down. "Sorry. Being careful is all."

"Don't sweat it. You can never be too careful out here. Death Wish right?" the black head said holding out a hand "Fun Ghoul. Cherri told us about you."

"Er cool. She never mentioned you sorry." I said shaking his hand. The red head grinned at me.

"Party Poison, leader of the Fabulous Killjoys. Nice hair by the way." he said in a voice that was oh so familiar. I stopped dead and looked at him for a second.

"Hey, do I have something on my face?" he asked jokingly and I shook my head.

"We've met. You were the redheaded man in the tunnel. Do you remember?" I asked which drew his face to a blank, but his friend the one called Fun Ghoul seemed to remember.

"You're that kid from battery city! Fuck how did you get out?" Ghoul exclaimed. Poison looked shocked.

"You were that kid singing Green Day weren't you?" he asked

"I think so. It was just a song my dad taught me. Look, do you know if there's any food in this place? Cause I haven't eaten in weeks in case they drugged me up."

Ghoul grinned wide. "Sure. We can catch up later. Show Pony keeps cans of Power Pup at the back of the diner. If you don't like that there's always alcohol." he laughed.

"I think I can deal with dog food." I smiled at him.

I strolled into the diner and saw Cherri sitting behind the dilapidated counter.

"Morning Motorbaby. How'd you sleep?" she cheerfully beamed at me.

"Great. But I'm really hungry and the Redheaded guy who's afraid of needles and the one with the chemical smelling hair told me there was food." I told her matter of factly. She laughed.

"The clue would be that it's a diner. How do you know Poison is afraid of needles?" she asked taking a can off the shelf.

"Thunder is too." I said again very matter of factly. She stared at me funny and tossed the can of dogfood and slid a knife across the countertop.

"You are a weird kid. You aren't some kind of psychic are you? You seem to know an awful lot." she asked sceptically.

"No!" I laughed "I'm just really observant. Like how I know your nose piercing was done recently cause there's still a thin red ring round it." I said cutting the lid off the can. With a spoon I took out a big mouthful and chowed down, too hungry to care that it was the nastiest thing I'd eaten since ever.

"You're a weird kid. But I like you. You're like the kid sister I never had." she told me. I nodded and continued eating.

"So Kiddos, may I introduce the Fabulous Killjoys!" said the guy in the wheelchair who was aptly named Doctor Death-Defying.

"Oh Please. You're making us sound like some kind of super heroes." said a guy with curly dark brown hair, taking off his glasses.

"Yeah. We really aren't that good. I'm Party Poison the leader. This is Jet Star" the Redhead said pointing at the curly guy "This is my brother Kobra Kid." he pointed at a guy with bleached blond ends of hair and a stripy green shirt "and you've all met Fun Ghoul." he gestured to the black head.

"Yeah. I reckon we can take em with us." Kobra Kid whispered to Show Pony.

"Where's Grace then?" Cherri asked.

"Here!" came a small voice from outside before a little girl ran into the diner "And I've told you, it's not Grace it's Missile Kid."

"Hey. I'm Death Wish. This is Silent Thunder and Shadowed Sky." I introduced us "We've met."

The Killjoys looked incredulous before Kobra Kid spoke.

"Damn. We have as well! You were that battery city kid in the tunnel!" he said as Ghoul triumphantly mouthed 'I told you so'

"I was. You gave me my name. Thanks for that. So are we gonna come with you?" I said. Poison spoke.

"Yeah. But because it's the start of summer we stay mostly here all summer so we aren't moving anywhere for a while."

"Cool." Thunder said "Now I know why I ran."

**About a week later**

"What you doin Wish?" Ghoul asked walking into the garage. I sat up from off the floor and smiled at him.

"Trying to fix this bike. It's nice and Cherri said if I could fix it I could have it." I told him wiping my forehead "Almost done."

"Cool. Grace was looking for you. I'll send her over here shall I?" he told me. I nodded, smiling at the thought of cut little grace and he left the garage.

"Wish!" I heard a squeal and a tiny body launched itself at me so hard I fell to the floor.

"Hello Gracie." I laughed and hugged her back "Wanna help me fix this?"

She sat up and grinned at me. "Sure. I just wanted to know if you were coming with us to Zone 12 to deliver guns tomorrow. Please do! It would be so fun!" she said jumping around full of adorable energy.

"Did you even have to ask?" I smiled patting her head "I'd love it. I've already told Poison I'm coming and he said definitely."

She hugged me again and grinned. "Yay! I'm glad you're here, it's like having a best friend." she said, handing me the spanner. I smiled at this before re-focusing on the job at hand.

A loud splutter echoed from the engine of the motorbike as my eyes met Kobra Kids as he entered the garage.

"Whoa! You did it!" he said

"No really?" I said sarcastically "Will you teach me? To ride the bike I mean"

He walked over to the motorcycle and touched the handlebars.

"My last girlfriend gave me this bike. It's nice." he said tracing the contours of the bodywork with his finger "She always had a thing for men on bikes."

"Like me then." I said quietly "What happened to her?"

"She was a BL/ind spy and almost got us all killed. Twice." he said honestly.

"Oh. Sorry." I mumbled

"Don't be. I was gonna have to tell you sometime. How about when we get back here next I'll teach you to ride okay?"

"Yeah. I'd like that."

**Next morning**

"Gracie! Wish! Wake up! We've gotta leave in an hour!" Jet stars voice came through the door. I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, looking at Graces sleeping form curled up on the bed.

"Missile Kid. Wakey Wakey." I said strutting over to the bed to touch her cheek. She stirred and moaned a little in her sleep before looking me in the eyes.

"Five more minutes?" she moaned grabbing the bottom of my yellow pyjama shirt.

"Hey. I'm the moody teenager here Gracie, I negotiate for more time in bed. You're supposed to be full of energy." I giggled at her. She moaned again and dragged at the bottom of my shirt and I sat down on her bed.

"Look. I'm gonna shower and then if you aren't up and at it when I'm done I'll get Jet Star to whoop your ass. Deal?" I said running my fingers through her curly brown hair.

"Urg. Fine." she mumbled and rolled onto her other side.

I laughed and stood up, grabbing my clothes from the end of the bed and a towel before heading out into the hallway. As it was 6am the light was dusty and pale coming through a window at the end of the hall. I quietly padded down the hallway and heard a guitar noise coming from a room. Ghoul and Jet were up so I knew it wasn't them, it was Sky. He's got really calloused fingertips, guitar players fingers but this is the first time I've heard him playing.

"Are you gonna keep hanging around outside the room?" Skys voice came from inside. I pushed the door too and entered.

"Hey. You're gonna say you didn't know I played guitar aren't you?" he said.

"No. I could tell from your fingers. I didn't know you played so well." I told him and he gave me a funny look.

"What! I'm really observant."

"Nothing. It's just freaky. And this is the first time I've played since we got here, cause Ghoul lent me his guitar. You want anything?" he asked looking at the still open door.

"You got any shampoo? Cherri hasn't managed to get me any yet."

"Borrow Thunders. He got it as part of the prize off Show Pony in that bet they had." he gestured to the bottle sitting on the cabinet by the other bed. I took it and left the room.

The water in the shower was lukewarm and washed over me like rain. Not that I've felt rain for a long while. I washed my hair quickly with Thunders shampoo and used the yucky soap before turning off the water.

Living in a desert you learn a thing or two about preserving supplies and water is the most precious of all. That'd possibly be the reason why I haven't showered for a week.

Wrapping a towel around myself I stepped out of the shower and wiped the condensation off the mirror. I grinned stupidly at myself before dragging a brush through my blue hair, still grinning. I got half dressed and dried my hair, then Thunder chose his moment to walk in.

"Nice tattoo." he remarked, looking at my hip just above the waistband of my pants.

"Dude! Really? Can't I get dressed properly?" I threw my towel at him and pulled my strappy top over my head.

"No. Can I see the whole thing?" he gestured at my half obscured star. I pulled down the edge of the waistband of my panties to show off the light blue and silver shooting star on my hip bone with a trail going down onto my leg.

"It's a wishing star" I explained "It was for my name and I got it after I met Party Poison the first time when I was 13."

"Cool." he said and I could see he wanted to touch it but I let the elastic spring back and stepped into my jeans. I tugged them up my legs as he stood in front of the mirror combing his mussy blond hair out of his eyes.

"So Are you coming to Zone 12 today?" I asked him.

"Nah. Poison says I've gotta work on my aim with the ray guns. If he takes me out now I'll be a danger. Plus there's no more room in the car."

"Oh." I said not knowing how to respond "Sucks to be you."

"See ya soon guys!" Cherri shouted from the diner entrance as the whitish grey trans-am sped down route guano. I leant out the window and whooped at the top of my voice as did everyone else in the car but Poison.

"Come on guys. Let's try and be serious okay? We've gotta get over to Zone 12." he told us tapping on the wheel.

"Fine. Why Zone 12?" I asked sitting back down in the front seat next to Grace.

"Zone 12 is really close to battery city and they're having serious drac issues right now. We're Zone 6 which is the opposite side of battery city and way far away so they must need us. Last I heard they'd built a testing facility there and were trying to populate it and add it to the safe zone." Poison explained. Kobra sat in the rear of the car and talked to Ghoul who was just sat staring into the floor. Poison and I talked about our first meeting and I told him about my dad and the Asian lady with the needle. He looked understanding and smiled a lot.

"Okay Campers! Outta the van!" Poison yelled into the back "We're gonna rest here for four hours comprendez? We've got a schedule to keep."

Everyone got up and climbed out the back of the trans-am. Soon, Ghoul had lit a fire to light the midnight desert and almost everyone was asleep on the sandy ground.

"Hey Wish? Who trained you as a killjoy?" Poison came and sat next to me.

"A Guy called Ollie, Broken Record and his girlfriend Candy Bullets. They lived in battery city but BL/ind record said they were dead. So the trained Killjoys out of an old backstreet." I explained "They're both dead and it's my fault."

He let out a small Oh and put a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I bet it wasn't your fault, they must have known they were risking their lives you know."

"Maybe. But I led the dracs straight to them and then they were shot in front of me. Do you have any idea how guilty that makes me?" I half cried

"Not at all. You didn't mean to kill anyone. Trust me, they must have been willing to give their lives for you as mentors and friends and you can't go around feeling guilty that they did." he said rubbing a tear off my face. I sniffled. "Thank Poison. I needed that."

"No problem. C'mon get some sleep. You've been on guard long enough. I'll keep you safe now." he said "We all will. That's what Killjoys do."

I snuggled into the jacket he laid on the ground for me and slept.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N- So I guess this story felt lonely not getting updated too. Reviews are awesome-sauce and make me happy. I'm sorry this chapter is mainly description but it gets better after this trust me**

**Disclaimer: I don't own MCR or Danger Days or any Killjoys you recognise. The rest are also figments of my overactive imagination**

**Chapter 3**

**Through six years down of crowded rooms**

"Poison! We've got ourselves a tail!" Kobra said jumping to his feet and leaning out the left window "Wish! Cover the left!"

I did what I guessed he was asking me to do and lent out the window real far, holding my ray gun. I felt a pair of tiny arms wrap my legs as Grace held my lower body in the car.

"Point and shoot okay. Were pulling over in a second we've almost got to the holdup point!" Poison shouted as I sat on the edge of the open window with one hand on the side of the car and the other gripping my ray gun. I pointed and let everything disappear until it was just me, the drac on the bike and the gun.

Blam!

The burst of light popped the front tyre and the drac went head over boot-clad heels to crash into the tarmac. More windows were opened and the other Killjoys leant out and shot until the Dracs were nothing but piles of mess on the ground. We headed to a decrepit looking broken down shack and pulled up outside.

"Nice shooting Wish." Jet Star pointed out "You're getting good." he said and patted my back.

"Thanks. I try." I grabbed a box of guns out the boot of the car and, as Poison instructed, carried it into the building. Inside it was a bit of a mess but a good kind of colourful mess. Clothes scattered the floor and you could tell that this tiny house was housing more people than it had ever been made for.

"Belle! Belle its Poison! Belle!" Poison shouted loudly to the rafters. A rumbling of feet came from upstairs and a girl ran into the room.

"Poison! I missed you guys you evasive bastards." she yelled "Gonna introduce me to your new friend?" she said pointing at me.

She was short , about Ghouls height, with lilac blond hair shaved half off one side of her head and spiked up onto the other. Her figure was skinny and willowy and her face was almost perfectly oval and skinny with well placed features. Her jeans were dark blue and tight but had rolls from her knee down and ended abruptly at her tiny orange ballet slippers. Her orange shirt was low cut exposing an artistic purplish black tattoo from shoulder to shoulder going down into her minimal cleavage. The resemblance between her features and Fun Ghouls was uncanny, sister maybe?

"Hey. I'm Death Wish but you can call me Wish if you like." I smiled at her and put the box full of guns down. She smiled.

"Warning Belle with an E. But call me Belle. I'm Ghouls little sister and I run this show with my boyfriend." she smiled "Grace you know your way round. Go find a spare room." she patted Grace on the head and the little girl swaggered upstairs like she was home. Pleasantries were exchanged and I sat on the counter in a kitchen not sure of what exactly to do.

"So. How did you get here then?" Belle grinned kindly at me.

"Originally or just now?" I joked and she laughed.

"You're quite the character aren't you? I can see why the guys like you. Originally please. No wait. Start after the fires." she smiled at me doing something on the counter opposite.

"Well my dad got killed by the company as did both my killjoy mentors and I couldn't run with my boyfriend cause the Dracs knew who I was. So I got captured and then Show Pony rescued me from a rehabilitation centre and I guess the rest is history." I said briefly. She smiled and handed me a sandwich.

"Eat up. Ghoul never eats enough out on the roads and neither do the rest of them. I'm guessing you're no exception."

"Yes mom." I laughed and she grinned at me, playfully hitting my head.

"I'm 20! Enough of the Mom!"

I found my way upstairs as the house filled with people. All the Zone 12 Killjoys have been forced further away from the safe zone and this is the only outpost the company hasn't reached yet. They've got a plan to stop BL/ind taking over the whole zone but they need more weapons and Killjoys to do it. So we brought them guns and when the time is right we'll help them strike.

"Hey Gracie? What you thinking of?" I asked as she bit her lip and stared out the window of our little attic room.

"What's your real name?" she abruptly turned to face me. I laughed and adjusted my sitting position on the sleeping bag.

"Its Stella. Stella Hughes. But I prefer Wish cause no one's called me Stella since... Since my dad died really." I giggled "Do you know the guys real names?"

"Of course I do silly!" she said looking at the sketchbook I held in my lap "What you drawing?"

I coiled away and shut the book. "That's not fair! Answer my question first!"

"Fine. Poisons real name is Gerard but most people called him Gee." she started as I snickered. She shot me a glare and carried on.

"Kobra Kid is called Mikey. Fun Ghoul is called Frank or Frankie to some people and Jet Star is called Ray."

I laughed out loud.

"That's so weird. How do you know that?"

"I asked stupid!" she giggled "So. What are you drawing?"

"Nothing really. Static was always the artist. But I was trying to draw you." I handed her the book. She looked at my shitty little cartoons and giggled.

"They're funny!"

"Its getting dark." Grace shivered

I shot a look that said 'So what'. She crawled over to me and whispered

"I'm afraid of the dark."

"I know that silly. But you aren't really. You're afraid if being alone in the dark. And I promise I'll be here. Now sleep, come on. Long day tomorrow." I said ruffling her cute curly brown hair that was so similar to Jets. She mumbled something softly before snuggling in her sleeping bag and drifting off. I watched her sleep until my eyes fell shut.

(they sleep)

I woke up to voices and the smell of cooking for a houseful. Grace was still asleep so I playfully ran my fingers through her fluffy hair and got up. I climbed down the ladder from the attic room onto the landing type beam.

The attic is at the top front of the house and only about a meter and a half tall in the middle where the roof slopes from. There's 2 windows, one on the right side and another porthole shaped one looking on the desert out front. The only other thing in the tiny room is unused bookcase/cabinet on the left, then the ladder. It takes you to a hanging landing of sorts, like scaffolding hanging on a chain, with stairs down to the 2nd floor landing. On the second floor there are 4 small rooms and a bathroom. All these rooms are occupied. Then at the opposite end of the hall from mine and Graces attic are a set of stairs. These go to the chaotic 1st floor which has another 4 small (and occupied) rooms and another bathroom. The corridor goes in an angular U shape with two rooms and a bathroom on the base of the U and another 2 inside it. Then when you get to the end of this chaos its the first floor which is a wide corridor made narrow by copious amounts of boxes of explosives, guns and food at the end of which is a kitchen and a large room with a sofa and a couple of dusty old armchairs.

"Morning Sweetheart! Pancakes?" Belle shouted across the bustle of the kitchen "Sit down and I'll get you some, 'Kay."

I sat at one of the high stools by a table type arrangement and looked over at Belle. Same orange top but today with black leggings and orange leg warmers.

"Hello. You must be Party Poisons new recruit. I'm Running Fox but call me Fox." said the guy sitting next to me. He looked about 30 and had deep brown eyes and very tanned skin with raven black hair which was messy around his ears.

"Death Wish. But call me Wish. Are you from Zone 12?" I asked.

"Yeah. We're planning a full attack but we need time. So for now we've all been forced here." he said and swigged a gulp of liquid from the glass in front of him. He wore a sleeveless dark brown shirt and earthy red trousers with a feather in his hair. I guessed he liked hand to hand combat from the five vicious looking knives that hung from his belt. But what puzzled me about him was the way he wore them, low down, like a pacifist you really didn't want to piss off.

"You use knives?" I asked intrigued.

"Yeah I'm pretty handy with a knife. But I mostly fix cars and things so I don't need guns." he smiled "You remind me of Shatter. He's my adopted kid basically. You'd like him. How old are you?"

I bit my lip. I don't actually know.

"What day is it?"

He laughed. "May 28th in old money, or the eighth day of summer."

"Well then I'm sixteen years and eight days." I said. Then I realised that the day show pony rescued me was my birthday. My dad always insisted on celebrating birthdays, even after BL/ind made birthdays frowned upon as they encouraged individuality. I felt a little nostalgic as memories of blowing out candles and my dad playing 'happy birthday to you' on his guitar surfaced in my mind. But they were suppressed as a plate of pancakes appeared under my nose.

"So Wish. Do you know anyone yet?" Jet star asked as I sat next to him in the busy front room.

"A guy called Running Fox introduced himself. But other than that no."

"Okay. Want me to tell you who's who?" he offered politely. I nodded and he breathed in.

"There are 38 Killjoys based in Zone 12 but only 23 actually live in the zone. Out of that number, 12 are in this house and the other 11 have been reported missing, dead or left the zone to become zone runners or find a safer place Want names?"

I nodded and he continued.

"Running Fox mentors and is practically a dad to 2 kids called Sonic Shatter and Bloodshot Echo. That's them over there" he pointed to two boys, one looked about twenty with heavy eyeliner and his arm around a girl with pink hair. The other was about my age with slick straight white hair, the colour of mine before it was blue, and a yellow jacket.

"That's Belles boyfriend, Gale Force." he pointed to a man clad in jeans and a dark green button up.

"And those two over there are Death Sugar and Clear Crystal." he pointed at two young women who looked about 22. The first wore a black short skirt with opaque purple tights and a tight purple tank top with her dark hair tied in a crazy updo type knot on her head. Her face looked slightly Asian but only slightly. The second was delicate and she looked innocent and younger than she probably was. Her left arm had a tattoo of a Chinese dragon going from her wrist to her shoulder with fireworks in copper green and purple scattered around. The other arm had words from a poem tattooed in neat script all over the shoulder and autumn leaves underneath them. Her hair was mouse brown at the top but messily dip-dyed copper green and reached the bottom of her shoulder blades. It framed her pretty face and brought out the blue in her sludge coloured eyes. Her ears were pierced with rings twice in each earlobe and once at the top of each ear as well as a black stud nose piercing and snakebite lip rings. Her top was white and see through exposing her black lacey bra and her skirt was a short tutu made of poufy black stuff with copper green ribbon woven though. She wore leggings down to her knees underneath it.

"The girl there is Space Out. She's kind of weird. But then if you had your tongue cut out by dracs aged 10 then you would be too." he nodded at a dark brown haired girl in a grey bikini top and shorts with suspenders who just entered the room. 19 maybe?

"The ones that aren't here are Hawk Frost and Broken Shadow. They're in the room next to me and Kobra and are probably still having sex." he finished.

"I so did not need to know that." I added and he laughed.

"Oh. Sorry for corrupting your innocence."

I raised my eyebrows. "Whoever said I still had innocence?"

At this we both laughed.

"You missed two." I said

"No he didn't." a guy came over and patted my back "Names Purifying Flame. Aged 26, same as Jet here. You must be Death Wish." his voice was European and slightly Scottish.

"Yeah. Hi. 'Sup." I said flatly and monosyllabically. He laughed, swished his hair and sat down.

"Not one for words?"

"No one for surprise introductions more like. Nice jacket by the way."

He tugged at its lapel. It was black leather with tartan patches over the elbows the same way his jeans had over the knees. His shirt was- Err actually as far as I can tell he wasn't wearing one.

"Whose the other girl? The one sucking face with Bloodshot Echo?" I asked "You missed her too."

"Well its cause no one likes her!" Flame said loudly and Jet clumped him round the back of the head.

"You can't say that! But yeah. Echo has a really nice girlfriend and he's openly cheating on her with Floss. Candy Floss is her name and I think she dyed her hair after she chose the name."

"Conceited much?" I asked

"We know."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N- YAY! More chapters. This one is real short compared to the others because I didn't want it to cut off weirdly. Please review if you are actually reading this: / I like to know what people other than Kira think.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the killjoys or Danger Days... Damn it :P**

**Chapter 4**

**Hit the Gas, Kill 'em all**

A loud rumble of engines filled the air as our eleven strong party of Killjoys crept forward. Belle dragged a muddy finger across her cheeks and twirled her ray-gun round her trigger finger before signalling to me and Grace. I lifted my gun to next to my face as I crouched lower behind the rubble of the recently bombed house. Poison pulled down his mask as did all the others. I realised I didn't have one but Space Out tapped my shoulder and handed me an eye mask, similar to her own but blue and silver. I hid my eyes in its plastic and silently breathed into the sand.

A metallic clang sounded from the tank-like vehicle as a platoon of dracs stepped onto the desert sand.

"Remember, die with your mask on." Death Sugar whispered cynically into my ear before running across the baking sand to take up her position. The dracs entered the field of rubble and smoke and Gale signalled like crazy to us all. Then it began.

I ran out from the rock I was behind as bullets whistled through the air. A Drac grabbed my shoulder and threw me to the ground which I hit hard. It bend over me and I kicked the face hard. I heard a crack and blood splattered my leg as he staggered backward. I took advantage of its confusion and slammed the butt of my rifle into his head. Another crack and another blood splatter. The drac stumbled backwards and I pushed it hard over onto the dusty ground. My foot blocked his throat and I stamped down to a choking noise. My gun levelled at its head and in a flash of light, no air escaped the dracs lungs.

I duck for the hiss of a bullet and fire another 3 from back. They embed themselves deep in the chest of another white clad Drac. Gale Force and Belle are back-to-back shooting bursts of light everywhere. Something grabs my waist and I panic. Flailing I slammed a fist into a nose. The offender fell back and I put a blast through his throat, watching the blood bubble from his jugular vein as death claimed my victim.

I was sweating and buzzed as a reinforcement van pulled up. We all looked at each other, wordlessly communicating our displeasure. We ran at the van as they left it. Taking advantage of our unorganised-ness a drac split the group. Grace ran towards Jet and they legged it to the front of the vehicle. I hit a drac in the back of the neck, feeling something break. He turned fast and before I could move I felt a sharp slash at my forearm and a burst of light.

"Fuck! Wish!" came a loud voice as a bullet penetrated the dracs ribcage and he fell forward onto me. I staggered on my feet looking down at the huge red gash on my arm, feeling warmth flow along my hand. Red stained the ground as Purifying Flame pulled the tartan bandana off his head and sat me on the sand.

"Sugar! Cover Me!" he screamed as Sugar dashed over kicking up sand.

He tightly wrapped it round the cut, murmuring profanities under his breath as my mind suddenly went into slow motion. Kobra and Ghoul shot the last few Dracs as Deaths Sugars eyeballs spun round the scene. A Drac close to us twitched and she pounced, smashing a rock into its skull. I heard the bones shatter and saw blood spill from its mouth as she lowered the rock onto the dusty ground.

"Fuck Wish! Stay here!" Flames voice pulled me up from my weird mental slowdown "C'mon we've gotta move before even more get here."

"Okay." I said. Sugar lifted me up by the waist to stabilize me as we strutted to the van that Gracie and Jet were waiting in. I clutched her tattooed shoulder tightly and leant my head on her shoulder.

"Well done kid. You've got some good fight in you." she whispered at me through her copper hair "First one?"

I nodded and she grabbed my still bleeding arm, hoisting me into the van. Space Out clambered into the van and pulled the door shut. She was caked in blood and holding a handful of slimy, equally bloody objects. Jet hit the gas and we fled the murder scene.

"Whatcha got there Space?" Belle asked. Space pulled a pen from her deep short pockets and wrote on the inner wall of the van.

"Tongues. It was Wishes first proper fight, she's gotta eat a bit of tongue."

I shook my head weakly. "Hell no. No way."

"C'mon Wish! Eat the tongue! It's a tradition!" Kobra nudged me.

"Urg. Fine! But you guys have gotta eat the other ones!" I protested weakly. Space Out shrugged and diced the tongues before passing the chunks around the van. Jet shouted. "On Three!" as I held the slimy, blood covered object in disgust.

"One!" Jet started

"Two!" Gale yelled

"Three!" we all yelled as I forced the slimy blood covered object down my gullet. It barely touched my own tongue so I almost gagged but I managed to not throw up.

"Three Cheers for our newest Killjoy!" Belle shouted

"For Wish!" the whole van yelled as Grace held my hand in the air. I was weak and covered in blood but I felt but ever so strong.

"Okay. This is going to hurt a lot." said the kind looking guy who was looking after my arm. I bit hard on my lip and he dragged the needle through my skin. I shuddered but let him continue and in no time he had stitched up my arm.

"Urrrr that's so weird!" I groaned "Thanks though."

"No problem. I'm Hawk Frost but call me Frost. I'm just going to wrap it up and then you'll be good to go." the kindly faced man grabbed a dirty white bandage from a box with a red cross on. He wore a pair of light blue faded jeans and a Nirvana tee shirt with a jacket in matching denim to his jeans over the top. His jacket sleeves were rolled up past his elbows and on his wrist was an ID bracelet that the name was scratched off of. His hair was blond on top but dark underneath reaching his jawbone at front but going up at the back and well covering the old scar that was behind his ear. It was from a gun strike as the skin was torn, not cut. A red cross was tattooed onto his neck, an ex doctor perhaps?

"There. All done. You'll be fine." he told me and dusted off his hands. He had taped a bandage tightly over my stitches and it felt so much better.

"Thank you. Are you a doctor?" I asked and he looked down and began his story.

"I was a medical student but when I turned 22 the BL/ind banned all personal relationships for doctors and were going to brainwash us all. We knew too much. I couldn't be without Shadow and that was when I realised how wrong everything was. So we got married secretly and ran away together. That was three years ago. So yeah, if I was still living in the safe zone I would be a doctor by now." he mumbled the last part "Sorry. You didn't want to hear that did you."

I shook my head. "No. I like other peoples stories. They're interesting."

"Good, cause we've all got one. Every single Killjoy has their own story, each one more tragic or sadder than the last. Look, I can tell you're an observant girl so don't go surprising people with things you know about them. People like to tell their stories." he told me before giving me a brief hug.

"Wake up Wish." Grace whispered into my ear "Belle made dinner."

I sat up and stood off the sofa I had slept on before putting an arm round her.

"Good. I'm hungry. Let's go shall we?" I said walking with her into the kitchen. It was busy and smelt of cooking and sweaty bodies. Everyone patted my back saying "Good job Wish." as I walked past which made me a little uncomfortable but Ghoul saw that and sat me down.

"Good job Wish. You really did well back there. I'll get you some food." he told me with an affectionate hug. Grace sat down and started devouring something out of a can, it looked suspiciously like tinned pasta but smelt horrid. However I was so hungry that when Ghoul arrived with a can for me I didn't care. Using a spoon I took a huge mouthful of warm food and ate fast.

"Whoa! Slow up Wish, you'll choke yourself!" Gale Force laughed at me with his arm around Belles waist. I flicked him the finger and he laughed even more so I went back to eating.

The next morning as we were packing up to leave, three girls arrived. They pulled up in a dirty white sports car and go out as I was putting some of the empty cardboard boxes into the boot of the trans-am. The four guys walked out of the diner and Poison threw me the key.

"Lock her up? Also you left the mask Space Out gave you in your room."

Shit! I locked the Trans-am and rushed back inside, legging it upstairs.

I picked the silver blue mask off the dusty floor and stretched the elastic round the back of my head, fitting it over my eyes. It was a little uncomfy but I guess I could get used to that seeing as it was life-saving. Looking in the little shards of broken mirror that rested on the cabinet I asked myself

"Who are you?"

I wasn't the shaking nervous kid who introduced herself to Ollie aged just 12. I wasn't the hopeless maniac singing in the street I was when I met Poison the first time. Hell! I wasn't even the crazy loved up teenager I was when I watched Static leave.

I was Death Wish. A Motorbaby, Crashqueen, Zone runner extraordinaire, killer with a ray gun and a heart attack in blue hair-dye. A teenage Zone 6er and a young Destroya. But above all, a Fabulous Killjoy to the end.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N- YAY! I have a chapter in which a troop of killjoys that are creations of Kiras make a cameo. Even though I am pretty sure she got the ideas from some random anime she was watching but... whatever. I am really enjoying writing this story so Reviews would be awesome to tell me if anyone is enjoying reading it.**

**Disclaimer: You know what I'm going to say. Do I even need this every chapter?**

**ENJOY!**

**Chapter 5**

**You've got a Bulletproof heart, I've got a Hollow Point Smile**

In the second floor corridor I heard a scream. And a slap. And a squealing and a loud door slam. Outside Shatter and Echo's room stood a short pale girl I didn't recognise, crying.

Her hair was black with royal purple highlights and her shoes were converses in a similar purple. She wore tight leather pants and a baggy Iron Maiden tee shirt, over the top of this was a bright royal purple leather jacket with gold shiny parts, but that wasn't the interesting part. She had an eye patch covering her left eye but a tiny scar poked out of the left corner. It was gouged out violently I could tell. She was very very skinny and kinda flat chested with almost no curves but like Belle it looked good on her figure. Her remaining eye was full of tears and a silvery grey colour.

"Hey. Are you okay?" I approached her tentatively and she flinched.

"Just leave me alone!" she said in a voice that if I was a weaker person would be very persuasive. I'm not.

"Look. You aren't getting rid of me till you tell me why you're crying."

She grabbed my arm and hauled me into the bathroom before locking the door behind her.

"My boyfriend or rather Ex-boyfriend is a cheating manslut." she said sounding stronger already "But now I'm fine."

I cocked my head to one side, doubting that statement highly.

"Where are you from?" I asked

"I'm a Zone Runner. I don't have a home." she said wiping her running makeup off her face "Me and my sisters haven't ever settled in one place for longer than a month."

"But you must have somewhere?" I questioned

"Well we did have here but I guess not any more. What did you say your name was again?"

"Err I didn't say my name actually." I stumbled over words

"Well. I know who you are already. You're Ghouls new girl. The one with the dead straight shot and the eye for detail. Shatter thinks you're hot." she said very matter-of-factly. I bit my lip.

"I'm Death Wish. You?"

"Criminal Damage. Aged 16 been running for 5 years. But that's not my real name."

I scowled.

"Obviously genius."

"Mmm. I like you. You remind me of a less screwed up version of me. Anoushka Kareiana. Call me Damage. You?"

Shocked by her suddenness I shook her offered hand.

"Stella Hughes. Call me Wish."

"Well. Good bye Stella Hughes call me Wish. I will see you around." Damage said before leaving the bathroom and leaving me puzzled. She was weird.

I ran downstairs to find Damage sitting in the kitchen with three other girls.

The oldest looked about 23 with scarlet hair piled into a high ponytail on her head but still swaying at her butt. Her eyes were a deep, passionless brown and her skin stood out against all this bright colour because she was white as a sheet. Her figure was very curvy and she had the kind of boobs that make guys drool and they were very on show in the tight black bikini top she wore. Black combat boots reached just below her knees over the top of skin tight, almost wet looking, skinny jeans.

The other had a vacant look in her clear eyes. Not even joking they were so blue they might well have been clear. Her hair had two bangs that reached her collarbones but the rest was level with her chin. It was a peculiar grey blue, like the colour of rain on a pavement or very faded denim before it tears. Her jeans, heavy Doc Martins and button up denim shirt were all this peculiar blue. She was also very pale and looked around 21. The bits of conversation I caught were very weird.

"Rain told Damage that that boy was no good for you, but did she listen? No. Damage never listen to Rain." said the girl with the blue eyes. Damage sighed loudly and rolled her eyes.

"Yes Rain I know. It's just... He had nice eyes!" Damage whined at the blue girl and then it was the redheads turn to roll her eyes.

"God it's all about the eyes for you isn't it Damage? Do you ever consider that you can't judge most guys on their eyes?" she snarled and Damage growled cattishly.

"Hey, err guys? Did you see Missile Kid?" I asked them and they all turned to face me.

"The Missile Kid is asleep on the sofa. Rain tried to wake her but... Alas she still slept." said the blue girl.

"Err thanks. See you guys round." I mumbled and Damage nodded.

I woke up Missile Kid and within seconds we were in the car.

"What took you?" Poison asked as I flopped into the front seat.

"I met someone. A girl called Criminal Damage, Echo's ex, the Zone runner."

"What, the one with the hot sisters?" Ghoul asked "Poison totally drools over the redheaded one."

Poison blushed.

"No I don't! I've met her once and I was drunk! I don't even know her name!" he burst out. Then to silence Ghouls argument, he stamped on the pedal and the engine growled into life as we sped onto Route Guano.

It was a cold desert night and I sat in the soft sand looking up at the stars.

"Stargazing huh?" Poison asked "When I was depressed I used to hate stars. They reminded me of everything I was destroying."

"Mm. My dad and I would go outside on clear nights and stay up till midnight or later just too look at them."

I explained. He lay next to me and smiled.

"You remind me of Mi- Kobra, when he was younger."

"How long ago was that?" I giggled and he pouted.

"I'm insulted that you think I'm that old! But I'm 28 and Kobras 25. We both lived before BL/ind and it was so much better." he reminisced "We had a band and all."

I smiled and imagined Poison- or Gerard as he would have been- in a band.

"Were you good?" I pondered out loud and he smiled.

"You could say that. We were kind of big, even when music was illegal but... BL/ind you know? We had to run just after we started. It sucked." he sighed and I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. I feel ya. My dad loved punk music and in the end it got him killed." I murmured "He played guitar real well too. He would always make me sing along. Tell me more about your band?" I murmured. Poison rubbed the back of his neck and licked his lips.

"Well it was us four. I was the singer, Kobra played bass and the other two on guitar. We had a drummer but... He was killed by BL/ind when we had to run, about a year after we started." he bit his lip before continuing "We had two albums. The first before we ran away and the second, purely out of boredom about a year ago with random killjoys we met as drummers, to give Doctor D some disks to spin. We played, I don't know, you could call it alternative rock and were actually pretty successful. We did it to save lives. Like it saved mine, I mean I was a wreck and on so many drugs it was crazy just after the fires. That's why I never bought into the company, I wasn't about to go drug myself up again when I'd just gotten clean."

"Makes sense. Did you have a name?" I asked

"My Chemical Romance. Seems apt doesn't it?" he smiled and I kind of had to agree "When we get back I'll play you one of our records. You'd like it."

"Cool. I'd like that." I smiled

"I know you would. Now come on, we've got a big day tomorrow, you've gotta sleep."

I scowled

"Only if you do too!"

"Fine." he said and snuggled up to me, wrapping me in the warmth of his jacket.

"mm. 'night Gee." I mumbled and he laughed.

"God damn it Grace!" he whispered " 'night Stella."

We arrived at the diner around mid-day. The sun was hot and Thunder was practicing shooting a target out front. He hit more times than he missed so I reckon it was an improvement. Sky ran up to us wearing a pair of Ghouls old red jeans, holding a hand grenade and yelling.

"Guys! I made these!" he yelled as we walked over "They make smoke. It's really cool, try one."

I grinned and took the grenade from his palm as Poison and the rest went to tell Doctor D what had happened. Nimbly I twisted the object around my hand and pulled out the pin. Throwing it at a patch of empty desert I ducked and blocked my ears like a reflex. But instead of exploding, a thin layer of smoke began to seep out of the lump of metal until the whole area around it was shielded in smoke.

"Whoa. Dude that's awesome." I whispered

"I know right. I've got about 20 in the garage but I just don't know what they could be for. So I've just been trying to make the smoke poisonous but its kind of difficult." he said proudly. I stood up and walked over to the grenade which had by now stopped exuding smoke. Picking up the metal lump I placed it in my pocket and walked into the garage after Shadowed Sky.

The garage smelt slightly smoky like cigarettes and burnt toast. There were loads of deactivated grenades just kicking around and one of the benches had a dead snake on.

"Sky? Why the dead snake?" I asked as he pulled off his fingerless gloves and wiped his sweaty palms against his jeans.

"I'm trying to poison the smoke but it's hard to used the stuff you get in the suicide injections you know, so I found some rattlesnakes and I'm taking their poison." he said, matter-of-factly, lifting up a tube of liquid that looked like urine and didn't smell much more pleasant either.

"Cool. Why?"

"I thought that would be obvious." he rolled his eyes "So we can free Zone 12! Then we've got one less thing to worry about."

I sat on the stool next to his and watched him pour venom into the grenades.

"Why did you run?" I asked curiously. He sighed and put down the equipment.

"I had two friends. They were called Wild Thing and Old Joy. They were originally musicians and had never taken the drugs so they stopped me from taking them. As soon as I was off them we ran. We planned to leave and go round battery cities safe zones until we arrived in Zone 9. Old Joy had a sister there and we thought we would be safe."

He paused and I nodded for him to carry on.

"We made it out of the safe zone into Zone 4 but the dracs caught us up. Wild Thing was already a wanted killjoy so they shot him on the spot and me and Old Joy were taken to a rehabilitation centre where they tortured him to death three days before Show Pony arrived." he looked down at his feet and I held his wrist. We stayed there for a while until he turned back to the bench and quietly began working on his grenades as if nothing ever happened. So I padded back into the diner.

**A/N- Just thought you ought to know, Wild thing and Old Joy are both Noah and the Whale songs and make outstandingly awful Killjoy names but I was stuck okay? The names get better, trust me.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N- Sorry it's been a while. Like I said on my other story, French Exchange as well as I didn't already have this chapter written and I've just had tonnes of exams. But I finished the chemistry one today and to celebrate, you guys get a chapter. Aren't I kind?**

**Reviews are loved**

**DISCLAIMER FOR THE WHOLE REST OF THE STORY: I do not own the Danger Days universe or anything or anyone you recognise**

**Chapter 6**

**They don't like who you are, you won't like where we're from**

In the diner, the four fabulous killjoys were deep in conversation with Cherri, Show Pony and Doctor Death-Deifying. I half waved at Poison but he gave me a glare that said 'Not now Wish' so I walked through to mine and Graces room. Grace was curled up on her bed in a foetal ball, sobbing silently. I ran over to her tiny form and held her shoulders to direct her sobs into my hair.

"Gracie what happened!" I whispered in her ear. She sobbed loudly and sniffled. I tangled my fingers in her hair and rocked her like a baby until her sniffles turned to hyperventilating breaths and her breaths turned to whimpers. When she was silent she lifted her head off my damp shoulder and held out a poster.

It was a BL/ind wanted poster with a blurry picture in the centre. The picture was me.

_'WANTED. Young Killjoy known in battery city as 15-07-36-6043. Armed and dangerous. Known to be travelling with the most wanted Fabulous Killjoys. Do not approach. Any information must be reported to the exterminators immediately.'_

"They know who you are Wish." she sniffed "They always get you when they know who you are."

Her eyes began to tear again. I screwed the poster into a ball and threw in to the corner of the room before holding her close to me.

"Shh. Shh. Grace don't fret baby. They only know my number. It's okay Shh." I whispered to her. She nodded and curled into a ball on her bed before instantly falling asleep. As soon as her eyes closed, I froze in terror. Hardly conscious of my actions I grabbed the poster from the floor and flattened it on my knees.

"Shit." I whispered to myself "Shit."

I grabbed the poster to my stomach. Suddenly the confidence I thought I had fled, leaving me a wreck on the floor of the room. Gracie was unfortunately right. When they know who you are, they always get you. No exception. That's what the masks are for but no, stupid Wish forgot to wear one. How could I be so careless?

"Wish? You okay in there?" came Silent Thunders rattly voice. I didn't answer but he walked in anyway.

"Wish what's up?"

I sniffed again and handed him the poster. He threw it to the ground carelessly and draped an arm over my shoulders.

"Come on. The guys were just discussing that. Its fine! Its only your number and besides," he said holding my chin up to look into his eyes "They know who all the guys are and they're still alive huh?"

I bit my lip and nodded. " 'spose so. We got any water?"

"Erm I think we're running low. But there's beer if you want."

"I don't drink beer."

"Suit yourself. Vodka?"

"Lemonade?"

"Only if you fight Poison for it." he laughed. I raised an eyebrow, glad of the welcome distraction from my impending death.

"I can do that."

"Apparently I have to fight you for the lemonade." I said to the purple black night. Poison laughed and slipped off the trans-am bonnet, his feet scuffing the soft desert sand.

"Yeah. Or you could do me a favour and get a cigarette off Ghoul and I'll give you it for free." he said deathly serious.

"Be back."

I leaned back into the foyer and walked into the light of the actual diner. Ghoul sat leaning back on a chair with his feet up on a table chewing on a plastic fork and contemplating deeply. I thought it best not to ask.

"Can I have a cigarette? Poisons not giving me the lemonade otherwise." I said, pulling him out of his daydream.

"Sure." he threw a flimsy cardboard box at my chest which I caught clumsily "You got a lighter?"

"Nope."

He chucked another object at me, this time hard plastic. I gripped it from midair and twirled the greeny blue object in my hand.

"Keep it. Useful things, lighters. Poison never has his own." he said before returning to chewing the fork.

"Thanks Frank." I said and he nearly fell off the chair.

"Dammit! Who told you that!"

"Missile Kid."

"Fine! I should know yours now!" he crossed his arms like a grumpy toddler.

"Stella."

"Last name?"

"Now that's unfair! I don't know yours!"

"Oh fine." he sat up properly "Its Iero. Frank Iero. Now tell me."

"Stella Hughes."

"Hughes. Sounds familiar." he bit the fork again.

"Its kind of common." I denied before leaving.

"Not in Jersey." I heard him mumble.

"Sweet!" Poison caught the cigarette box. I held out my palm and he reluctantly laid the neck of the bottle in it. I took a sip and hauled myself onto the roof of the trans-am so I was behind him.

"Lighter?"

I sighed and handed him the blue green object Ghoul had given me not 4 seconds ago. He clicked the flint and a little flame appeared. Lighting his cigarette he shook out the lighter and placed it back in my hand.

We sat there for a little while, drinking (me) and smoking (him). The air was purple and the kind of cold you only get in hot places that bites your skin and doesn't let go.

"Tell me more about your band." I said sipping the flat, out of date lemon drink slowly. He swivelled round to face me and slowly breathed one last nicotine breath before throwing the cigarette end into the desert.

"There's nothing much to tell. We were just four guys trying to change the world and save a few kids lives. But we did it with music back then, not guns."

"How?"

"We inspired them. We told them that no matter how bad it gets we would be just as messed up as them. We promised them that there was a reason to wake up in the morning, to put down that knife and start living. We didn't sugar-coat it or try and bullshit them, life's a bitch if you don't fit in. So we gave them something worth not fitting in for."

I breathed in a smile. He was just like my dad, a firm believer in music and how it could change the world, one person at a time.

"Can I hear some?" I enquired.

"Sure. I've got some here, hang on."

He got into the trans-am and started the engine. Then he held up two CDs.

"Thank You for the Venom or I'm not Okay?"

"The first."

"Good choice."

He put the Cd in and pushed play. A guitar solo played loudly and immediately I fell in love with the guitar.

**Sister, I'm not much a poet, but a criminal and you never had a chance. **

**Love it, or leave it, you can't understand. A pretty face, but you do so carry on, and on, and on.**

**I wouldn't front the scene if you paid me, I'm just the way that the doctor made me, on, and on, and on, and on. **

**Love is the red the rose on your coffin door what's life like, bleeding on the floor, the floor, the floor? **

**You'll never make me leave,**

**I wear this on my sleeve, give me a reason to believe. **

**So give me all your poison and give me all your pills and give me all your hopeless hearts and make me ill. **

**You're running after something that you'll never kill**

**If this is what you want **

**Then fire at will. **

**Preach all you want but who's gonna save me?**

**I keep a gun on the book you gave me, hallelujah, lock and load.**

**Black is the kiss, the touch of the serpent son.**

**It ain't the mark or the scar that makes you one, and one, and one, and one.**

**You'll never make me leave. **

**I wear this on my sleeve.**

**Give me a reason to believe. **

**So give me all your poison and give me all your pills and give me all your hopeless hearts and make me ill.**

**You're running after something that you'll never kill,**

**If this is what you want then fire at will**

He paused the song.

"Do you like it?"

Gobsmacked I nodded. "I love it. Your voice is awesome. And the guitar- Whoa. Was that Jet Star at the start?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. I loved that. You guys are quite something." I giggled. Poison grinned.

"Only quite?"

"Shut up with the sass already! Very. Very something. Happy?"

He pouted. "Yeah. Did Grace show you the poster?"

I sighed deep. "Unfortunately yes."

"Its okay." Poison re-assured me "They know us all. Fuck- me and Korse are practically on a first name basis! You don't need to worry it over Wish. Promise."

"But they know my number Poison. You guys never had numbers or even battery city citizenships." I mumbled, dropping the empty bottle on the ground.

"Do you know what the numbers are for?" he asked looking square in my eyes. I shook my head.

"The numbers are your life. Predestined fates decided simply by a computer. What was yours again?"

"15-07-36-6043." I said. My number was easier that my name. No one used names anymore. Not even Killjoys.

"Area 15. That's simple enough. They herd people like sheep into areas where they live until BLI decides they have lived enough. And did you ever notice how everyone in an area does the same job, with similar back-story?" he asked rhetorically.

I bit my lip and thought. Come to mention it, I had. Everyone in Area 15 was a Society Developer, which means they develop and test new drugs for use on the city. They stand and watch as vulnerable , weak and supposedly abnormal people- many ex killjoys- scream and writhe in pain while the drugs ravage their bodies. They had all lost a family member because they were a suspected killjoy, and they all had risk levels in the 7s, 8s and 9s

"Risk level 7. But that's not the half of it. Zero point seven is exactly how many grams of mind-sedative they'd calculated and put in your food to stop you from snapping out of it. 7 is how many different pills you had to take and how many times a day you needed them." he said and my eyes must have widened. This was a revelation.

"36. That was your house number. But you were relocated when they ghosted your dad to here. The higher the number the closer the dracs were and the quicker they could come and find you. And last but not least, your student number. 60 for your allowed percentage success rate in school which they cap at 65 percent so you don't get to smart. 4 for the difficulty of your work out of 5 and 3 for your allowed number of mistakes or infractions before your Educator had to report you to BLI and se if you needed to get your dosage changed."

I could have cried. He was making this worse!

"Why are you telling me this?" i almost cried

"Because you killed it. You killed their system and now that number means nothing. They're not gonna find us.C'mon now though, its almost midnight and you should be sleeping. In." Poison said authoritatively, pointing at the diner. I gave him the evils and poked out my tongue.

"Mature."he said flatly.

"You know me!" i giggled before obeying his request and wandering inside to bed.

**A/N- This was kind of a filler. But stuff happens in the next one so you needed a break, trust me**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N- FINALLY! I haven't died of Stickit-to-da-man-eoisis and I'm really sorry it's been like ages for this story but I promise this is a good one. Or at least I hope. It took ages to write.**

**Chapter 7**

**Run like the Devil, they're never gonna leave you alone**

**(not danger days I know but it fits)**

Waking up I peered across to Missile Kids bed. She was asleep, holding her gun tightly like a comfort blanket and muttering illegibly. Smiling I stood and patted her head.

"Morning Gracie." I whispered to her; she payed no attention and instead went back to rolling around and mumbling. I dressed in my shorts, top and slipped on my converse before shuffling into the diner. Cherri sat at the counter, perky as ever, eating dog food from a red can this time.

"Hey Wish. You okay?" she said quietly.

"Mmm." I hummed before taking another can off the shelf and cracking it open with the tip of a sharp knife. Peeling away the shiny metal I took a plastic fork- hopefully not the one Ghoul was chewing last night- and tucked in. Cherri watched me eat for a little while before slipping off the high bar stool she was sat on to go into the back room. As she shut the door behind her, a little hurricane of dust was thrown into the air before halting about 2 meters up and slowly fluttering down like autumn leaves. It was then that I realised I had been starring at a cloud of dust for the last 2 minutes. This made me laugh.

Later that day, some tumbleweed blew in. We saw in the distance a convoy of Dracs following a woman on a motorbike down route guano. She was desperately dodging the hail of bullets coming her way but about half a mile from the diner, we saw one hit her.

"Wish, take the left!" Poison screamed as I ran to the left of the highway and began shooting at the dracs that were now surrounding the helpless looking woman. I hit a few and then started running. The woman on the bike stopped and curled her body round the huge backpack she wore, and screamed. It was almost painful to hear her pained yell as I dived across the sand, tripping on a rock. From the floor I leapt up and saw the carnage. The woman lay on the floor, in the smoking wreckage of the motorbike. The metal was riddled with bullet holes, similarly to the woman's shoulders. Kobra Kid knelt next to her with his hand on her cheek comfortingly. Then, in a croaky voice she moaned, her every syllable rattling on her broken vocal cords.

"Look after her... My baby." the woman cried out before finally shutting her scarred eyelids for the last time.

Poison took the dead woman's backpack off her and gently pulled her legs out from under the motorbike. Her face was scarred all over and covered in ash and broken glass. Her eyes held more time than the beautiful clock that hung round her neck and body was young but wasted away.

"Who do you think she meant?" I asked, dusting soot off her cheeks.

"I don't know Wish. Her pack weighs a ton though."

He opened the massive bag and gasped. Carefully he reached in and pulled out a small child. No older than 7 and dead to the world asleep. A note attached to the kids mouth read

*'It's only a sleeping pill. Her name is Paradise Stars.'*

"Wish, get her inside!" Poison said urgently. I took the child's sleeping form and walked straight legged into the diner.

Laying the girl gently on the counter-top, I opened her eyes. Brown. Her hair- dirty blonde. Her clothes- BL/ind standard issue covered in red paint. Her cheeks were flushed pink and her feet were bare and covered with cuts from broken glass. Paradise Stars. Looked about 5 but her whole demeanour was older. Unlike Grace, who, when she slept looked adorable and innocent, she looked poised to jump into a fight; ready for evil to come at her.

"So, Wish. What do you reckon happened?" Jet Star asked. I had laid all the woman's things out on the desk and was pretty sure I knew the answer.

"Well I guess she was from Battery City. A lab rat maybe or some kind of test subject. Young kid equals reason to stay there." I shuffled her map in front of me "She ran for some reason about a week ago." The newspaper stuck in the bottom of the bag dated last week "And was headed to central Zone 4." the annotated map "But she altered her route trying to brush off those dracs. Paradise Stars is her daughter, they have the same eyes. She drugged her up yesterday with these," I rattled the bottle of pills "and hid her in here after metal plating the inside so it was bulletproof. Whoever she wants to see in Zone 4 is probably Paradise Star's father, cause Zone 4 is like, the least safe Zone aside from this one. Which means that she'd have to be desperate to want in."

I finished speaking and he looked at me incredulous.

"You can tell all that just by looking?" he asked and I nodded "That's pretty cool."

"Thanks." I smiled at him. He took the woman's map and began to observe the annotations. I walked over to the little girl. Show Pony had pulled the glass out of her feet and cleaned the soot from her face and she lay in a foetal position on a table in one of the booths of the diner. She was murmuring in her sleep and her eyeballs flickered under the thin skin of her eyelids. I watched in silence as she tossed and turned, living through a traumatic looking dream. Then, with a start, she sat up, open eyes with an untrusting expression.

"Erm- hi." I said, looking square into the hazel orbs sunk deep in her skull. All she did was stare. Mouth open like a goldfish and eyes vacant.

"Erm Pony? She's awake." I said, not breaking eye contact with the girl for longer than a second. Show Pony came over and shook the kids shoulders.

"Nope, I think she's in shock. I'll deal with her okay, you go help the Doctor D. He's making a transmission to see if anyone knows the ghosted woman." he said. I nodded and walked nervously into Doctor Deathdeifying's studio. He was playing a record that I recognised my dad playing when I was younger. I sat in the chair next to him.

"Hey Wish. Any news on the little girl?" he asked, turning in his wheelchair.

"Show Pony says she's in shock, but I reckon he can fix her."

"Well, good work motorbaby. You wanna tell the Rock and Rollers or should I?" he said in his low voice. My eyes widened. He was asking me to make a transmission? No way.

"Really?"

"Really really. Just let the words come out. The guys do it all the time and Thunder takes it over whenever I need a break. It's not that hard."

I breathed deep, hearing him click off the record and pulling the old fashioned microphone to my mouth.

"Upthrust the volume Crashqueens, I've got a story to tell ya. Another Killjoy got dusted today in the zones and I can tell you all Motorbabys, it wasn't pretty. She left behind a kid, name of Paradise Stars, only small. We know she was aimed for Zone 4 so if any of you over there know anything about this woman, then don't be shy to come over here and pay your respects. This is Death Wish, signing off." I said before clicking off the mic and clicking the record back on.

"Nice one kid. We'll make a DJ outta you yet." he said patting my back.

I smiled and examined the record case. It was Nirvana- Come as you are. My dad used to love that record, and it has so many memories attached. Like the time he played it at top volume to see how many times the very BL/ind supporting neighbours would complain. Or the first time I met Ollie (Broken Record at that point) and he asked me what music I liked, I went straight over to his records and picked that one. Or the time it came on while Candy Bullets was teaching me to shoot and instead of shooting we just sang along. Or even the first time I broke curfew and stayed in Records workshop with Static, just talking, holding hands all night under the obscured stars of the bricked up backstreet, it was the first song Static played when I woke up in the morning.

"Hey Wish. Are you crying?" Doctor D asked. I touched my cheek and felt a tear, which was weird, I normally cry really cold tears.

"Its your friends isn't it? Don't worry, we all miss out losses."

I sniffed.

"I just wish I could say goodbye to them one more time. Or say sorry for what I did, or even just get some kind of closure." I whimpered. Doctor D patted my back gently.

"I think Ghoul might be able to help you with that. He'll be going to the mailbox with the woman's belongings, why don't you go with him?" he said. I had no idea what he was on about but I went to find Ghoul anyway.

"Doctor D said something about a mailbox." I asked and he cocked his head understandingly.

"Yeah. I was just gonna put her necklace and a note there. You wanna come?" he said and I nodded.

"What is it?" I asked as we hopped in the car. He shrugged.

"Where to start." he breathed in "No one fights near the postbox. No deaths or skirmishes within 3 miles. Period. It's a resting place. Sure, we bury our deads bodies in the ground but we bury their memories at the postbox. People post letters there for their lost, hoping that one day their lost friends will read them. People leave gifts for their friends in other Zones and its where you go to get closure on the ones you've loved and lost."

I thought about this a second. Closure. One thing I sought desperately but seemed so out of reach.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"Not far. Eastern Zone 6. We've got about an hour."

The hour passed quickly and we pulled up outside a few trees and some shrubs. Amongst them was a brightly coloured mailbox, decorated with all manner of ways to remember the dead. Sugar Skulls, Flowers, Crosses and the word Love in swirly pink writing along the front.

"People post letters here to their dead. Then you leave gifts for your lost, hoping that one day they will claim them." he explained, hanging the clock pendant on a nearby tree where many different things dangled in the light warm breeze "If a killjoy dies, you bury them with their belongings but you take one thing and leave it here, so their memory can carry on."

I moved round to the front of the mailbox and looked. The trees all had things like necklaces, bracelets, shirts, shoes and even gloves hanging from their branches; each one symbolising a dead killjoy. When I was captured by BL/ind they took all of my possessions so I have nothing of mine, Records, Candy's or even Statics to hang. But then I remembered that was still hanging on to that record case.

"Hey Ghoul? You got a pen?" I asked. He chucked me a black permanent marker which I uncapped and began to write on the white paper case that I pulled from inside the cardboard.

_Dear Candy Bullets and Broken Record._

_I know I can't fix this with sorry. But I'm trying to. You two were a great loss to the world and it was my fault. I know that in time, your memories will disappear like your lives did, but as long as I still fight on, that won't happen. You taught me so much with your music, your skills and your shared love. A love that no one could deny and I hope one day I will have that again. I love you both, I miss you more than anything and I promise to do you proud. I will never forget you._

_Death Wish xoxo_

I folded the note up, real neatly and posted it into the beautifully decorated postbox. Then using Fun Ghouls marker pen I wrote their names on the outside of the record case and hung it on a branch.

"Looks good. Why haven't you done one for that boy, Static Sunrise?"

I bit my lip as Fun Ghoul lent over my shoulder to observe my memorial.

"Because I don't want to believe he's dead just yet."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N- OHMAGAWD SHE'S ALIVE!**

**Yeah. I have been kind of distracted, you know. That and the fact I took a while to write this chapter, I wanted it to be really good.**

**This chapter is in third person by the way and the next chapter will fit directly after the last one. This is just a wild 3****rd**** person chapter as part of the storyline.**

**Tusinde****tak to Sunshine of DaGeekGodesses for Beta-ing this and correcting my awful spelling.**

**Chapter 8**

**Hold your breath when a Black Bird flies**

The teenage boy kept his eyes on the road as it flashed past his peripheral. Gently, he notched the controls and slowed a little. This bike was Ollie's pride and joy and he didn't want to live with the disrespect if he treated it badly. It was a sleek, glossy black Harley Davidson with a glistening chrome finish and an engine that could out-roar a pride of lions. On the left side, obscured slightly by the boy's knee, was the bike's name in luminous silver: Black Bird. Everyone who ever saw Ollie ride Black Bird would hold their breath at the way he flew along the roads and watch in awe as the speedo counted way past the 70 that was the line between fast and reckless. But now, the Black Bird had a new rider, a rider who was nervous and naive, she could sense it. He knew by the way she twitched between his knees when he banked a corner and how the tilt on the turns wobbled dangerously.

He would shut his light brown, sepia photograph eyes and end up seeing silver-grey ones. His stomach churned as its non-existent contents attempted to abandon ship. His head pounded and each of his eyelashes weighed down on his eyelids, dragging like concrete blocks on the feet of a drowning man. Just one second wouldn't hurt, his body argued against his slowly fading senses.

His eyes shut for what could have been the last time and, as his head sunk onto the handlebars, the bike spun out of control. He didn't hear or feel a thing. The tyres squealed horrifically and the bike skimmed across the surface of the road, causing sparks to leap from the friction in the metal. The underside of the bike made contact with a rock by the roadside, making the metal crunch and mangle like a Coke can under-foot. The helmet flew off the boy's head, flicking his neck too far back to be natural. He didn't feel pain. Too numb and exhausted to register; he might as well have been unconscious. The engine of what used to be a bike started to flame and the smell of petrol overcame his every sense. Petrol turned to pain and in a final scream, he lost it. Blackness.

A day passed. In the middle of a particularly harsh second day, two women in a scratched red sports car pulled up beside the boy's fragile body, wrapped unnaturally around the wreckage of a motorbike.  
The first stepped out of the car. Her hair was worn in a dark brown side fringe over her slim face, and her body was curvy and clad in a black and green camo tank top, bright purple jeans and two sashes hung over her shoulders. The left shoulder sash was luminous and striped, while the right was over the top and made of bullets.  
She bent down fearfully next to the boy's body and pressed two fingers to the pulse point on his neck.  
"Hey, he's alive!" she shouted to her apathetic companion.  
The other woman snorted.  
"So? For all we know he's some kind of hitch-hiking rapist who'll kill us all!" she said, pursing her pretty, red painted lips together.  
"Give it up, Butane. Does he look in a fit state to rape us? Stop being so paranoid and help me lift him into the car. He needs our help, fast."  
The woman in the car swung her long, bare legs out of the car door and strutted over, walking like the model she once was. Together, the women picked up the boy's limp body and strapped it across the back seat. Butane pulled the hem of her purple plad skirt up and unzipped her blue Dead Pegasus sleeveless jacket a few centimetres. Her companion flicked at her high, black ponytail.  
"Quit fussing. It's not like there's anyone to impress." she said, hitting the gas before her friend could argue back.

Blur. That was all there was. Fuzzy light and pain merged together creating a whole new emotion from the moment he opened his eyes.  
"Hey, you're awake!" said a woman from the end of his bed.  
He looked at her. Black hair in two high ponytails, red painted lips, purple tartan miniskirt, blue sleeveless bomber jacket and - most interestingly - high heels made of gun barrels.  
"Uh, yeah," he said - and that was when it struck him. The pain. Sharp and constant in his mid calf, hot and aching from all round his head, chin and neck and splitting from his shoulder.  
"FUCK!" he cursed loudly and fell onto whatever he was lying on before. It turns out it was a pillow, set up in a makeshift bed inside an ex-freezer in a long disused general store. But all he knew was pain.  
"Angel! He woke up!" the woman shouted. Her friend payed no attention, so she yelled louder.

"JAMIA!"

The other woman burst through the isle to what used to be the freezer section.  
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!" she screamed in annoyance.  
"The boy woke up," the other said bluntly.

"Crap."

The brown haired woman grabbed a surgical needle and an IV bag from the otherwise empty shelf. Sitting the boy up on the reversed freezer lid, she gently pushed the needle into his arm and hung the drip bag up on a nearby cupboard. The painkiller entered the boy's system slowly, too slowly, but he sighed at the small, placebo relief.  
"Hey kid, you okay? How long have you been out in the Zones?" she asked soothingly.  
He looked her in the eyes.  
"A month and a half, I think. How long was I out?" he mumbled.  
"3 days. You had us worried," the woman with the red lips spoke up, "I'm Butane Bassline, and this is Radio Angel. You'll be safe with us now."  
The black-haired woman, introduced as Butane, held up a finger as a signal to wait. Disappearing around a corner, she returned a few seconds later holding a crushed looking packet of some kind of perishable food.  
"I don't actually know what it is but it's food, so you should eat it." she handed the brunette boy the pack. He tore open the plastic to find a mash of what used to be a kind of jelly sweet. Forgetting the pain in his jaw, he chewed gently on a corner of the coloured mess, too starved to care that it tasted exactly like leather dipped in sugar water.  
"Where am I?" he croaked.  
"Zone 1. We're the only Killjoys here and we keep to ourselves. This part of the desert was the least affected by the 2012 fires and acid rain so it's pretty dangerous. BL/ind is always trying to build testing facilities and things over old buildings," Angel explained somberly, "we haven't had contact with any other Killjoys for almost two years."

"Why didn't it get damaged as bad as everywhere else?" he asked curiously, sitting up in interest.  
"It was right in the middle of the desert in California. There were no major cities, so no bombs hit it, and, since there was hardly anything to burn, the fires didn't quite reach. The acid rain was pretty awful, but not as bad as it could have been."  
The boy racked his brains, searching through the mixture of BL/ind approved history and Killjoy tales. He knew what had happened - nuclear bombs were set off by some unknown power in every major city in the world, killing three-quarters of the population of the world, and causing huge fires lasting for months. Then, the sheer amount of fallout turned to acidic rain, killing all but less than 1 billion people in the world, after which, were herded into BL/ind's utopian cities and fed drug, forcing them to forget all they survived - but he never heard of whole towns left undevastated.  
"But... How?" he said, still tangled in thoughts.  
"This whole town survived. Then, the citizens joined forces with people who ran away from the utopia that once was BL/ind and started the rebellion," Butane said, and the boy gaped.  
"But that-"  
"Yep," she stated confidently, "We're the last of the original killjoys, now who the hell are you?"  
"Static Sunrise."


End file.
